VA opens new Community Resource and Referral Center

Homeless and at-risk veterans in the Omaha metro have a new place to receive community services.

The VA of Nebraska-Western Iowa opened a new Community Resource and Referral Center Tuesday. It’s located at 825 Dorcas Street, near downtown Omaha. Linda Twomey, Mental Health Specialty Programs Director for the Nebraska-Western Iowa VA, says they hope to provide services at the Center to about 400 homeless veterans every year.

“Some of the services that we provide are services to meet veterans’ basic needs. So showers, laundry services, and food assistance. We also include both rehab and case management and a variety of other, traditional services that we offer in the Community Resource and Referral Center.”

The VA of Nebraska-Western Iowa operates a food pantry the first and third Wednesdays of the month. Twomey says about 100 veterans use the food pantry.

Twomey says the VA hospital in Omaha is one of 12 nationwide to initiate these community centers. She says of the 50,000 veterans served every year by the VA of Nebraska-Western Iowa, 9,000 live at or below the poverty line.

The Center is adjacent to 90 privately-owned and operated apartments. 45 of those apartments are available to low-income veterans through the HUD-VASH program.